


Eight Nights of Hanukah with Percy Jackson

by dregsofthebarrel



Category: Percy Jackson and the Olympians & Related Fandoms - All Media Types, Percy Jackson and the Olympians - Rick Riordan, The Heroes of Olympus - Rick Riordan
Genre: Complete, F/M, Gen, Grief, Hanukkah, Holidays, Jewish Holidays, percabeth
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-11-27
Updated: 2021-01-12
Packaged: 2021-03-09 22:20:29
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 8
Words: 20,756
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27733696
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/dregsofthebarrel/pseuds/dregsofthebarrel
Summary: Percy Jackson celebrates a quiet Hanukah at home with Sally, Paul, Estelle and a few friends dropping in to say hello and enjoy some latkes.
Relationships: Annabeth Chase/Percy Jackson
Comments: 5
Kudos: 35





	1. First Night

Percy watered the moonlace flower on his fire escape and headed towards the kitchen. The sun was finally setting, and it was almost time to light the candles. Lighting the menorah had become a yearly tradition ever since Paul had married his mom. For a stepdad, he wasn’t so bad, Percy thought to himself as he thought about previous holiday seasons with smelly Gabe. Paul Blofis was actually pretty great. 

He left the window open for some fresh air and headed to the kitchen. In the kitchen, his mom, Estelle and Paul were gathered around the table with four menorahs on aluminum foil and the table set for four. The lights had been turned out and the glow from the setting sun lit the room. Estelle was in front of her menorah, it was a simple one with a flat green base and nine flowers, each blooming and ready to hold a candle. Paul and his Mom stood in front of a metal tree menorah with a thick gnarled trunk and nine branches facing up to hold the candles. Percy’s was a simple blue glass, that reminded him of sea glass he could always find on the beach. He thought about when he had picked it out a few years ago. Paul took him to a special store, Percy didn’t even know stores like this existed, but it was full of menorahs of every shape, color and theme. It didn’t take long for Percy to find the simple blue menorah. At first, he was hesitant as it was glass, and he didn’t want to accidentally break it. But Paul reminded him, “just enjoy it, if it breaks, that is an opportunity to discover something new.” So Percy picked it out. All these years later and he hadn’t broken it yet. Standing in the kitchen, he hoped it wouldn’t be this year he accidentally dropped it.  
As it was the first night, only two candles would be lit, the one representing the first night and the shamash, the helper candle, Percy remembered. Paul walked up with a box of matches and asked, “Estelle do you remember how to start the prayer.” Percy could not remember so he was glad Paul asked her. 

“Baruk atah Adonai…” Estelle said. She started strong but stopped after the first part.

“That’s a good start honey!” Paul said and put the box of candles on the table. Percy of course picked two blue candles. Estelle picked red and orange and Sally picked two yellow candles. They were all quite as they placed their candles on their menorah, as it was the first night, only the rightmost branch would be lit. With everyone’s candles placed, they all picked up the shamash and Paul lit a match. He lit everyone’s candle as they held it aloft and he began to recite the blessings. Percy’s mind wandered, he liked the ceremony but he didn’t want to accidentally pray to another God who might need another favor from him. 

With the blessings complete Percy lit his candle and then placed his shamash candle in the menorah. With the six candles lit the room had a soft glow even as the sun finished setting.  
“Time for dinner!” Sally said and Estelle rushed to sit down, almost knocking over her menorah. Percy watched the candles wobble until one tipped over, the base hitting the aluminum foil and the flame hitting the tablecloth. With a quick thought and a raised eyebrow there was suddenly a wet spot on the table and puff of smoke. Paul had left to get the latkes from the oven and glanced at the table, raising an eyebrow at the damp table and merely relighting the candle and nodding at Percy. 

This was Percy’s favorite part of the holiday, latkes, he wondered why they couldn’t eat them all year, but he had not mastered the skill of making them and was at the whim of Paul’s cooking. Percy was ready to pounce as soon as the dish was set down on the table. Before everyone else could move, he had eight latkes on his plate and a side of applesauce. While Percy thought of himself as an accepting person, he knew there was a right and wrong answer to the whether latkes were to be eaten with apple sauce or sour cream. There was a reason Annabeth was not invited tonight. 

Percy dug in, reminiscing on the merits of potatoes. He thought how the next time he had to drink nectar, it would probably taste like a crispy latke. Looking around, Percy reflected on how nice it was to be home and to feel safe, patting his pocket to feel riptide for good measure. Every since Smelly Gabe had “vanished” the holiday season had slowly grown into a celebration of the year instead of dread at having to spend time at home. 

Percy had dish duty tonight. At camp-half blood he had been forced to do dishes with hot lava as a punishment, but in his apartment just plane soap and water was used, and Percy was quite proud of his system. It probably wasn’t as fast as Leo’s fancy dishwasher, but Percy could wash and dry at the same time, controlling the water to gently scrub each plate and then place it in his dry hand so he could dry it. Ever since his fall into Tartarus and the ensuring battle against Gaea he had been working on fine tuning his control. With everything being bigger and stronger than him, it felt good to feel in control of the things he could. He started small, with single drops of water and he was slowly able to move them through the air above his palm in patterns. They weren’t complicated yet, but he could spell stuff out to Annabeth across the room in class sometimes. Of course, half the time she had no idea what he wrote because the spelling was not correct. But it grounded him and made him feel in control when he would suddenly start shaking or couldn’t stop his heart from racing for no reason. 

Looking up from a stack of clean dishes he saw his mom in the doorway gently smiling at him, “You know, one day you are going to have to learn to do them the old fashion way.” Percy shrugged, “It works doesn’t it?”  
“Come on, we want to give you your presents.” 

In the living room Estelle sat on the floor and Paul was in his armchair. Sally sat on the couch and Percy joined her, his leg bouncing as always. He looked down at his socks and realized that there was at least one hole in each. “Maybe they got me new socks?” He thought to himself. First Paul handed Estelle a box wrapped in blue paper with silver menorahs on it. She quickly tore it open and squealed with delight, it was a purple octopus doll. She had been so interested in sea creatures lately. When he came home from school he was always greeted with a new fact about a different sea creature, he kept meaning to take her to the aquarium but splitting his time between school and Camp Half-Blood had been keeping him busy. 

After Estelle moved from excited to quietly thinking of names for her new octopus Paul handed Percy a green bag with blue tissue paper.  
“I hope you like it,” Paul said.

Percy removed the tissue paper and saw white and black fuzz. “Could it be?” He thought to himself. Pulling it out, it was perfectly soft and just like he remembered it, a panda pillow pet! “How did you know?” Percy asked. “I had a hint from an old friend the last time the Hunters stopped by the apartment.” 

“Wait, when were the hunters here?” Sally merely smiled and ignored the question, “I thought you could use a fresh start and maybe have a faithful friend to help you sleep.” Referencing the dark circles that were always under his eyes. 

“Thank you” was all Percy could say as he gently stroked the head of his new pillow pet, the repetitive motion soothing him.


	2. Second Night-Annabeth Comes Over

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Annabeth comes over for the second night of Hanukkah.

Last night Percy slept the best he had in months, only second best to when he had Annabeth by his side. There was something soothing about hugging his new pillow pet, it was just the right shape to fit in his arms and stop the tension building in him while he slept. Of course, he still had nightmares, but he was trying some of the tricks Reyna had described to control her dreams, and last night he hung on to the strawberry fields a little longer than normal before the nightmares started. 

Percy spent the day relaxing, watching nature documentaries with Estelle and avoiding his homework. Who assigns homework over winter break? He was definitely going to ask Annabeth if she had read or plans to read The Hate U Give by Angie Thomas. He enjoyed the movie, but just did not want to read the book, he had better things to do.  
Watching the nature documentary with Estelle was fun because he could understand what the whales and other sea creatures were saying, and it was not family friendly. Estelle was leaning against his shoulder and when he laughed thinking about another not family friendly animal, Hazel’s horse Arion, he startled her.

“What are you laughing about?” Estelle asked?

Not wanting to explain either Arion or what the whales were actually saying, he made up stories for what the sea creatures were doing. For the remaining half hour of the documentary he explained the drama between Sydney and her whale friends and how being a bully was bad. Estelle hung on his every word, making him pause and rewind to remind her which whale was which. 

That’s how Annabeth found him when Sally let her into the apartment. He was wearing his Camp Half-Blood sweatshirt and blue sweatpants and was snuggled up on the cough with Estelle. Annabeth hung out in the doorway enjoying hearing him be silly after everything that had happened to the both of them. She interrupted him explaining how while Whales don’t have bathrooms, they are the worst place to be trapped. 

“I don’t know Seaweed Brain, you never had too much trouble with winning fights in the bathroom.” Annabeth interjected. Percy looked up and when he saw her in the doorway he grinned and untangled himself from the blankets on the couch and went to hug her. 

“Let me go get dressed for dinner!” He left Estelle and Annabeth alone in the living room as the credits of the documentary rolled by on the screen.  
After putting on a white t shirt and a green flannel with jeans he hears a soft knock on his door, “Come in!” Percy yells and Annabeth opens the door. Standing in the doorway she is lit from behind and her frizzy hair is like a halo around her head. Percy loves it, her messy hair, her small smile and her eyes as she takes in his half hazard room. It is not the first time she has been in his room before (always with the door open at Sally’s insistence) but every time her eyes rove over everything analyzing new details and keeping track of what has changed. 

In record time she notices the panda pillow pet and asks, “Does he have a name?”

“Not yet, I don’t know… I was thinking…”

“Well you wouldn’t want to do too much of that?” Annabeth joked. 

“Octavian murdered my first one, did I ever tell you about that?”

“I don’t think so,” she responded gently. Even they had been through Tartarus together, he had never fully talked about the months he was on the run from the monsters. He always shut down and tried to change the topic. Annabeth always let him. Even after they had been reunited aboard the Argo II, something had changed in him, he had become angrier and sadder, some of the optimism that had kept him going had disappeared. 

“When I was on the run and had no idea who I was, for several days I was chased by a pair of gorgons. They kept getting to me and they would try to scratch me or bite me but their teeth would break and their claws never pierced my skin. I didn’t know I had Achilles curse, I was so confused.” Percy sighed and sat on his bed picking up the pillow pet, “I was so tired.”

“Lupa told me that I needed to find Camp Jupiter on my own, I spent a whole month just running for my life from monster after monster. All I could do was survive, there was no before and there was no after. I had stopped to get a few supplies and I picked up a Panda Pillow pet, for when I did get the chance to sleep.” Hugging the pillow pet tighter, “We made it all the way to Camp Jupiter together, we were survivors together, only for Octavian to rip him to shreds. And then I was alone again. We had been through so much together, I had someone to watch my back, even if it was just a doll.”

“It is not just a doll Percy, it was you doing what you do best, making friends and creating a family from nothing. And then you had it ripped away all over again when Octavian stabbed him.” Percy looked up from staring into the panda’s eyes, “I guess so.” Annabeth sat on the bed beside him putting her arm around him. They sat like that until Sally called from down the hallway, “ready to light the candles you two?” Percy stood up and quickly wiped his eyes, “Let’s go eat some latkes, you aren’t allowed to have any because you have horrible taste.” He makes a gagging noise and under his breath mutters, “sour cream.” 

The table was set for five with the four menorahs in the middle each on a piece of aluminum foil. Estelle, Paul and Sally were already around the table with the candles already picked out. Estelle had picked out yellow for Percy tonight and he didn’t object. Annabeth and Percy stood together as everyone picked up their shamash and Paul lit a match. Percy handed his candle to Annabeth while Paul led the prayer. Percy wondered what Annabeth was thinking about, her eyes were far away as Paul finished. Percy had to nudge her, and she lit the two candles on his menorah before he took the shamash from her and placed it back in its proper place. Estelle, Paul and Annabeth sat down and the room was brighter than yesterday with one more candle added to each menorah. Percy and his mom went to the kitchen to get the food and bring it to the table. Percy carried the latkes and applesauce and Sally carried the rest. He placed the applesauce in front of Annabeth with a glare. In one motion he had half the latkes on his plate before putting the serving platter down. Sally glared and he begrudgingly placed a few on Annabeth’s plate. 

Before anyone else saw it happen Annabeth countered Percy’s applesauce attack. Her plate remained clean, but Percy sat with applesauce in his lap and hair. Estelle was giggling and Sally and Paul were also struggling to hold back their laughter. Percy just sighed but grinned at Annabeth, glaring knowingly. “I’ll be right back,” he said as he headed to his room to change clothes, again. Annabeth smirked at him and asked Sally to pass the sour cream.

The rest of dinner was uneventful, and Percy looked like he was ready to fall asleep when they all settled on the couch. They only did gifts on the first and last night of Hanukah and the nights in between were spent celebrating family and spending time together. Something Percy appreciated after not seeing his mom for almost a full year. Sally pulled open the cabinet next to the TV, is it an UNO or Sorry night?

Percy pointed at Sorry and Annabeth pointed at UNO, Estelle was still too young to play by herself, but she liked to join Sally’s team and hold the cards. Paul pointed at UNO and Sally shrugged and put Sorry back in the cabinet. The living room grew serious as Sally shuffled the deck and Estelle got comfortable in her lap. Percy still looked sleepy Annabeth noted. It might be just a game, but she did not like to lose. The game began and Annabeth was surprised by Sally’s intensity, it must be where Percy got it from. Paul quickly got with a couple of draw fours and had half the deck. 

After forty-five minutes of intense play Percy had two cards, Annabeth had three and Sally had two. Annabeth had been keeping track of Percy’s plays, it looked like he had been avoiding the yellows for now, it also adds up with his penchant for always collecting all the blue cards. It always caused him to lose when they played at camp. The next round he places his wild card down, he shouts, “UNO” loudly daring anyone to challenge his single card. It is a bold move when he only has one card left after and three other people have a chance to change it. While making slow eye contact with everyone gathered around the coffee table he calmly says, “Blue.” Sally looks excited but Annabeth can’t figure out his plan. He doesn’t look sleepy anymore, but maybe he was never sleepy? Was it part of his master plan to win UNO? She had beat him every time they played, she thought that it was a running joke, but it seems that he was taking it much more seriously than she thought. Paul put down a blue six and Annabeth put down a yellow six, matching the number and not the color, hoping to throw him off. Sally got stuck pulling cards, it seems that she only had blue ones left. Finally, she got a yellow card and placed it down, a yellow reverse. Annabeth puts a yellow seven, and Paul with half the deck searches for a bit and then places another yellow card down. Finally, with extreme calm Percy places his final card down. A yellow three. The room explodes into shouting and laughter. “How did you know it was going to be yellow when you picked blue?” Annabeth shouts. Percy is laughing so hard he is almost in tears, the plumbing in the apartment groans through the walls but no pipes burst. Paul is shaking his head and laughing, and Sally is yelling, “I had the blue cards! Why you would choose blue?”

“I finally beat you Wise Girl!” is all Percy will say, he won’t answer any questions but just gives Estelle a wink. 

“You cheated, you and Estelle were working together!” Annabeth says seething. She doesn’t like to lose.

“Hey, don’t accuse my sister of cheating! Maybe I’m just better at the game.”

“You didn’t even want to play UNO, you said Sorry?!”

“All part of the ruse,” now Percy is grinning, “Estelle and I have been training for this.”

Estelle giggles as Percy starts to shuffle the cards and put them back in the box. Annabeth glares at Percy and Sally says, “Come on Estelle, it is bedtime.” Estelle gets up and hugs Percy and then comes over to offer Annabeth a hug. Annabeth accepts and then Estelle toddles off after Sally. Paul goes to the kitchen to clean up the dishes from dinner and Percy and Annabeth are alone again. 

By the time Sally comes back to the living room and finds them cuddling up on the couch, with Night at the Museum playing on the TV they are both sound asleep. She puts a blanket over the two of them and texts Annabeth’s dad saying they fell asleep watching a movie and she didn’t want to wake them up. Both of them have watched them struggle with nightmares since they returned and neither wants to disturb what looks like a peaceful night of sleep.


	3. Third Night: A Trip to the Aquarium

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Percy and Estelle take a trip to the aquarium giving Sally and Paul a day off.

Percy woke up the next morning on the couch with Annabeth and a blanket he did not remember getting. He woke to the sounds of Estelle and Sally in the kitchen, Annabeth was still asleep so as gently as possible tried to remove her head from his shoulder. He still ended up waking her up. She snuggled closer and muttered, you better make me pancakes for waking me up. Percy stopped trying to get up and dozed back off, feeling content. He woke up again to the sound of the waffle iron beeping. This time he successfully woke up Annabeth and they went to the kitchen to investigate the waffles. 

As always Estelle was chipper and covered in flour, Percy assumed she had been assisting his Mom in the special way that only toddlers can (creating a mess). He dutifully went over to the waffle iron and started to open it to remove the ready waffles. They were perfectly crispy and so he put them on the plate and plopped more batter onto the iron. Now that Percy had taken control of the waffle iron, Sally got started on the dishes. Soon the whole apartment smelled like waffles. 

Estelle and Annabeth sat down to eat while Percy was finishing off the last waffles in the waffle iron. He got out the syrup and poured some for Estelle and Annabeth. The last batch came out extra crispy, his favorite way to eat waffles. He sat down at the table and Sally joined them. Percy then drenched his waffles in syrup and Annabeth made a sound of disgust.  
“We went over this already, my pancakes can’t drown, and neither can my waffles,” he said in a defensive. Annabeth rolled her eyes and made eye contact with Sally who shrugged her shoulders. She had accepted defeat in this argument years ago. 

After breakfast Percy took a quick shower and Annabeth helped with the dishes. He had promised his parents that he would take Estelle for the day, giving them the day off. Annabeth walked into Percy’s room right as he finished pulling his shirt over his head. Annabeth got a quick glimpse of the scars on his back before he turned around, her face turned red. Percy came over for a quick hug snuffing out any embarrassment. He was wearing blue jeans, black vans and a white t shirt. Walking out of the room he picked up a led zeppelin sweatshirt that was thrown on the floor by the door.

“We are going to the aquarium today, want to come along?” He asked her stopping for a hug in the hallway with his face still in her neck.   
“I promised my brothers I would build Legos with them today, anyway I think Estelle wants to spend the day with you, not with me.”  
Percy didn’t argue and merely made a face at her silently begging. Annabeth resisted, only successful after years of practice.   
“You will have to tell me about it later.”

Annabeth got ready in the bathroom while Percy helped Estelle get ready, he had her in her stroller by the time Annabeth was ready to go. Sally and Paul were at the table planning out their day. “Have fun! Be safe! Don’t let your sister get kidnapped!” Sally called out as Percy walked out the door. 

As they all walked to the subway station together, Percy kept checking his pocket for riptide. Logically he knew it would be there, but it never hurt to check. Especially with his luck. Estelle was buckled into the stroller and he had a bag of snacks, juice and his trusty Nalgene water bottle. He felt it was a little cannibalistic to bring goldfish crackers to the aquarium, but it was Estelle’s favorite snack and who was he to argue with her? 

Reaching the subway station, the elevator was of course out of order, so Annabeth helped Percy carrying the stroller down the stairs. Estelle laughed at them struggling the whole time. This is where they parted, Percy headed toward the aquarium and Annabeth back to her Dad’s apartment. Her family lived part time in New York and part time in San Francisco depending on the time of year. Percy thought he had successfully got on the right subway only to realize he was heading in the wrong direction. “Of course I read the sign wrong,” he muttered to himself. They got off at the next stop and hopped on the next train heading the right direction. Estelle didn’t seem to notice, as she had fallen asleep. Everyone else on the subway was on their phones, but he didn’t carry anything but an old flip phone for emergencies. It was powered off most the time to not attract monsters.   
Being surrounded underground by so many people made him nervous. Sometimes the subway made him feel like he was in the Labyrinth and messing up the direction he was going didn’t help. To calm his nerves, he pulled out his Nalgene and started to put on a little water works show for himself. He hadn’t shown it to anyone yet, not even Annabeth. He made the droplets look like synchronized swimmers doing different shapes and formations. 

Pretty quickly their stop was announced, and Percy stood up and pushed Estelle off the subway. The elevator was broken again, and so he bounced her up the steps, waking her up in the process. She was starting to get fidgety, so he pulled out the goldfish and gave her a handful while they walked the remaining block to the aquarium. It was already starting to get busy, but the line was not long. While waiting in line he realized this was the first time he had been to an aquarium since the the one in Georgia. He hoped there were no ancient sea gods in residence at this one. “With my luck, I will probably run into an ancient cousin with a grudge or something,” he thought to himself. Riptide was still in his pocket and he felt he could handle whatever came up. Even the suffocating memories. 

Finally, they were at the front of the line, Percy got their tickets and they went into the front hall. Percy pulls the stroller off to the side and crouches down in front of Estelle, she is finished eating the goldfish and is covered in orange crumbs. “Do you want to see the sharks or the penguins first?”  
“Pengine!” Estelle says mispronouncing the name.   
“Alright then, let’s go!” He goes back around to the stroller and heads down the hallway with the sign that points towards the penguins.

The hallway leading to the outdoor penguin exhibit goes under the stingrays, so they walk under an underwater archway with stingrays swimming above and around them. Percy is instantly transported back to Georgia and his breathing gets shallow. His grip on the stroller handles tighten. He wants to curl up in a ball but he doesn’t want Estelle to worry so he kept slowly walking while his thoughts raced. He thought he would be fine going to an aquarium; he had not been nervous about drowning since coming back from Tartarus. There he had faced some of his worst fears and if he could come back from there, drowning seemed less daunting. Since then water has been a comfort, maybe it was the glass and the distortion making him feel trapped. He didn’t want to be put on display. Just like the first tank him and Frank had been tricked into. 

They reached the end of the tunnel and Percy let out a shaky breath, “Did you like the stingrays?” he asked. Estelle nodded and Percy walked quickly, putting as much space between him and the underwater hallway as possible. He took a note to find another way back to the entrance.   
They made it to the penguins and Percy wondered if he would be able to understand them, as they were not exactly sea creatures, but he quickly learned he could. Their conversations were hilarious and kind of rude, as they judged the guests and their appearances. Percy narrated their thoughts to Estelle and after a while his nerves started to calm down. 

“Let’s go check out the stingrays!” he said as he started to get bored, penguins could be very shallow. He could only hear their criticisms of his outfit for so long. Estelle merely responded by requesting more goldfish. Percy obliged. He found an outdoor path to the shark tanks and he meandered over thinking again about how he felt walking under the stingrays. More and more he had been having trouble when old memories resurfaced, it was hard to talk about with his friends but next time he was at Camp Half-Blood he planned to ask Chiron about it. 

They arrived at the stingray’s tank after a short walk, Percy was enjoying the quiet moment with his sister, when an employee walked up. He was dressed in a blue polo shirt with the aquarium logo on it and in khakis. At first, he was suspicious, the polo shirts reminding him too much of the Bargain Mart uniform, but nothing else stood out. Maybe they were simply just friendly employees of the aquarium. 

“Excuse me, would you and your sister like to pet the stingrays?” Percy looked to Estelle, “do you want to?” She nodded enthusiastically; her hands covered in goldfish dust.   
“Sure,” Percy responded. They followed the employee over to the other side of the tank. The tank had an outside area, but it went down several feet and could be viewed from indoors as well as outdoors. As they follow the employee the ground got slick with water splashed by the other kids leaning over the glass to pet the stingrays. The air is filled with excited squeals and a few tears from the more fearful toddlers. The aquarium has stones in the ground surrounding the glass like a step, to help the kids see into the tank.   
The employee helpfully comes over and starts to spout sting ray facts and the normal explanation of how it is safe to pet them. Estelle is fascinated. She sticks her free hand into the water and starts to splash, scaring away the sting rays. Percy grabs her hand and holds it still. Soon half the sting rays in the tank have gathered around their hands. Their skin is rough, and Estelle holds her breath she is so excited. Percy looks around hoping he does not look too suspicious, but the other families merely start to drift away to the next tank as the sting rays swim away toward Estelle. Across the way from the strollers is where the sharks are held. They have a similar tank to the sting rays except the sides are much taller, he figures it is not fun for the employees to fish kids back out. The bottom half of the tank is indoors where other guests can view them from the side instead of above. 

“What do you think?” Percy asks Estelle, her hand still in the water, just staring at them.

“Not soft” she says but she doesn’t move her hand. 

“They think you are pretty neat, that sting ray right there says that you are doing such a good job being gentle!” Percy didn’t mention the way they were trash talking the haircuts of many of the other observers. Stingrays were surprisingly judgmental! Apparently he needed a haircut. You sound like my mom he thought back to them.

“Let’s take a picture! You can stay right here, I am going to grab the camera from the stroller.” He turns to the employee still standing at the tank, “Do you mind just keeping an eye on her, I just need to grab my camera from the stroller right there. Anyway, she knows how to swim.” Before the employee could respond, he walked over to the stroller and starts to dig around the diaper bag. It is really full and so he goes over to a ledge to put it down to make the searching easier. 

The crowd from the sting rays have gathered over here, and it looks like the aquarium staff have come out as well. They are giving a presentation, but Percy isn’t paying attention, he knows all this stuff already. Quickly the crowd becomes agitated and start to jostle each other. Parents are pushing their kids to the front. How aggressive, Percy thinks to himself. I’m never going to be like that when I have kids. At that thought an elbow to the ribs sends Percy gasping for breath. The slick floor causes him to stumble and another elbow sends him over into the tank. 

“Just my luck,” Percy says as he makes eye contact with a shark. The shark doesn’t pay him any attention as he starts to fall downward to the bottom of the tank, where the indoor viewing area is. He can see the diaper bag still sitting on the ledge, at least the snacks are still safe. The bag is soon out of view and he is surprised to find himself making eye contact with a kid. The kid takes a second to process what he is seeing before he starts to scream in terror. 

“Don’t worry, I’m not a monster!” Percy says cheerfully. He figures he should make his way back out of the tank when he looks around. The tank is enclosed with only one viewing window and the top is densely packed with sharks. Alone at the bottom of the tank he starts to feel claustrophobic. The water at the top is tinted pink, his own stomach gurgles and he realizes why there was such a big crowd. 

Looking through the glass the people are distorted but he can see that others have now noticed his presence and videos have been started. It feels like Atlanta again, put out on display and trapped. While he could communicate with the sharks, that doesn’t mean they would listen when he would suggest that he they don’t eat him. He doesn’t taste that good anyway, too much time spent in chlorine pools. 

Percy realizes he has to do something fast, he can’t wait much longer as the chunks of the shark food drift down, getting closer. He starts to pull out riptide but isn’t sure what the mist will do for those videoing. Will it just look like he climbed into a tank and massacred an endangered species of sharks? Thinking back to middle school, he doesn’t want to be accused of being a terrorist again.

While looking out at the audience, if I am going to have to perform, might as well give them a good show he thinks to himself. Taking a deep breath and steadying his nerves he looks around. “I am not trapped, this isn’t the same as Atlanta,” he repeats to himself. Walking across the bottom of the tank he strikes a pose. Feet under his shoulders, both hands out to the side, he begins to dance. Percy’s dancing looked a lot like sword fighting, without the sword. He jumped, twirled and moved through the water, evading the sharks while steadily making his way up to the top of the tank. There were some jazz hands involved, but later when his friends sent him the video by email, he swore that the Mist added that part.   
He made it to the top of the tank and wanted to make a strong exit, he formed the water into stairs and sauntered down them. Estelle was standing over by the stingrays with a worried look on her face. The employee looked downright frightened when he popped out of tank with his sweatshirt and jeans completely dry. When his foot hit the cement, the staircase receded back into the shark tank with a gentle swoosh. He casually grabbed the diaper bag and walked over to Estelle.

“Ah here’s the camera!” the employee was still standing there in shock and so Percy just placed the disposable camera in her hand and posed with Estelle in front of the sting rays. Operating on autopilot the employee took the pictures, hands the camera back and walks away. 

“Let’s eat snacks!” Percy declares while buckling Estelle back into the stroller. They find a nice sunny bench where they eat their respective snacks and sit in silence. Without a phone Percy doesn’t know if people posted the video anywhere, but he figures the Mist covered most of it up. Dancing always made him self conscious. The rest of the day was uneventful as they went inside to see the jellyfish and other exotic underwater creatures. 

On the subway ride home Estelle fell asleep. They were back at their stop in no time, right as the sun was beginning to set. Percy is always surprised how fast the subways go, but losing track of time is easy for him. Walking to his apartment Estelle begins to wake up and they are in the elevator when he hears her cute voice, “Perce?”  
“Yeah”  
“Why did you go swimming at the aquarium?” Percy’s face turned pale, he was not planning to mention it to his parents.  
“I just dropped something and needed to pick it up, but don’t tell Mom and Paul, okay?”  
She nodded and gave him a mischievous grin. They made it to their apartment and he could hear the TV on, they must be waiting for them to eat dinner and light the candles. Sally opened the door before he could get out his key and he heard Paul turn off the TV. “How was the aquarium?” She asked them, “I pet a stingray!” Estelle answered.  
“It was fun.” Percy shrugged trying to act casual about it. They all got ready for dinner and Percy could tell his mom was acting strange. Weird glances between Paul and her. They said the blessing, lit the candles and sat down for dinner. Percy couldn’t tell what was going on between the two of them but he was enjoying the lasagna. As the candles burned, he enjoyed playing with the hot wax as they dripped down the sides. 

“So, anything else happen at the aquarium today?” Sally asked. Oh no, she knew. But how? Percy thought. “Uhhhh we watched some sharks get fed.”   
“And did you do anything else with the sharks?”  
“How’d you know?!” he asked confused. He glared at Estelle, “did you tell?” she just giggled. “No honey, you are on the news.”  
“What! Not again.” His stomach filled with dread as he realized that his friends might see him dancing. “What exactly did the video show?”   
“Some great dance moves,” Sally waggled her eyebrows.   
“I didn’t know you could dance like that,” Paul added on chuckling.

After dinner Sally and Paul put Estelle down for bed and Percy went to the desktop and powered it on. He figured he might as well get it over with and checked his email. Sure, enough the messages were spilling in. First an email from Leo with the entire subject line just alternating shark and disco emojis and comments about the pros and cons of jazz hands. Jason sent a link to a buzzfeed article and a picture of a white board adding a tally to the Percy column, Annabeth had sent the link with screenshots of the most embarrassing movements but no comments. He was sure he would hear about it in person. The most recent one was from Clarisse who couldn’t help but send a simple message in the subject line, “you suck at dancing.” Sticking his head on the keyboard he groaned, he was never going to live this down. But even with the embarrassing video, he was grateful that it was just regular bad luck and not deadly bad luck.


	4. Fourth Night:

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Percy has the day to himself when Nico pops up, they hang out, spar and enjoy dinner together.

The sounds of garbage trucks and traffic woke Percy up. It was comforting in its familiarity. He stayed in bed enjoying the calm morning. Rolling over, Percy spotted his panda pillow pet somehow thrown across the room even though it started the night in his bed. Not sure how it got there, he crawled out of bed and placed the pillow in its proper spot before wandering first to the bathroom and then the kitchen. The house was quiet, so he went to check the house phone for any messages. As Percy didn’t have a cell phone, this was the best way they had figured out for Sally to leave him messages. A voicemail was blinking, he put it on speaker and heard a message saying that they took Estelle out to the library story time and to a kid friendly show with her play group so he will have the house to himself for the day. They would be home in time to light the candles.

With almost a full day to himself Percy didn’t know what to do. He had not had free time alone in a really long time. With school he spent all his free time with Annabeth, at Camp Half Blood he was rarely alone, and now he was all alone in an apartment with no responsibilities. He ate his Blueberry mini wheats while pondering his day. He could call Annabeth, or maybe see if Grover was available? But thinking about it, he kind of liked the idea of being alone, it didn’t have to be lonely. 

After breakfast, he didn’t bother getting dressed and went straight to his room to get his disposable camera, construction paper and scissors. The photos from the aquarium had filled up the last of the photos on the camera and he needed to go find a place to get them developed. But first things first was making the background for his collage. Percy spent an hour, ripping, tearing and gluing together blue construction paper into a collage that showed a rippling wave. It had one large wave topped with white caps and a tumultuous sea behind it. By the second collage he had glue in his hair and a little bit of glitter on his forehead. He decided to call it finished while he was ahead and packed up his art project, putting the glitter back by Estelle’s art station and the camera back in his room. 

After a lunch of slightly charred grilled cheese (he liked it extra crispy) it was time to train. Sally did not like deadly weapons used in her living room. But Percy figured she wasn’t here and what she didn’t know couldn’t hurt her. Anyway, he was much better with a sword now then he was when the rule was first created. 

Percy pushed the couch against the wall to hopefully give himself enough space. Pulling out Riptide he began to run some warmup drills. Percy had not even broken a sweat when he heard footsteps in the hallway. Thinking they were home early he spun in a circle, accidentally swinging Riptide with him and knocking a row of picture frames off the mantle. With a crash they fell onto the floor. Oh no. I’m dead, she is going to know. He helpfully thought to himself. Checking the door, it was just a neighbor. He released a breath and went to check on the pictures. Only one was broken, his first-grade school picture. The rest had landed on the rug and he quickly put them back. Holding the broken picture frame in one hand and Riptide in the other he walked back to his room to hide the evidence of his mistake. 

Percy tossed Riptide onto his bed and turned to place the frame on his desk but something catches his eye in the window. Glancing up he drops the picture again, shattering the glass around his bare feet. In the window is none other than Nico di Angelo who gives an awkward wave. Avoiding the broken glass, Percy gingerly walks over to the window to open it up.

“You know you could just knock on the front door like a normal person?” Percy says pushing the window open. Nico is standing on the fire escape wearing ripped black jeans, black on black converse and a black and white striped thermal shirt under his aviator jacket. “Well come on in, watch out for the glass.” Nico ducks inside.

Barefoot, Percy hops around the room to go get the vacuum. “Is something wrong at Camp Half-Blood?” he asks before leaving the room. Nico follows, “No, I was just bored and wanted to say hello.” 

“Oh cool, it’s been awhile.” Percy returned to his room and vacuums up the glass quickly while Nico stood off to the side looking slightly embarrassed. “Don’t worry, I had already knocked it over with Riptide, it was already a lost cause.” Nico glanced at the celestial bronze sword just casually tossed onto the bed. “I was just working on drills, do you want to spar?” 

Nico pulled his stygian iron sword out of thin air in response. “Cool, let me get dressed and actually put shoes on and we can spar in the alley.” Looking sheepish he said, “I don’t think my mom would appreciate us fighting in the living room.” 

Ten minutes later Percy and Nico stood in the alley behind his apartment. Without a word Percy lunged and they started to fight. At first it was a friendly fight, Percy could feel Nico holding back and Percy was only hitting with the flat of his blade smacking Nico on the shoulder hoping to get him to drop his sword. “I’m really glad you dropped by,” Percy said between hits. “Why? Just so you could beat me up?” Their swords were locked together and Percy stepped back pulling his blade away causing Nico to stumble, “No, I’ve been a bad friend to you and am glad you are giving me another chance. I never even properly thanked you” Nico lunged towards Percy swiping with his sword, it caught, and both their blades clanged together, “I don’t see it that way.” Percy pushes the blades towards Nico’s throat, they are now both using their full strength. “In…in Tartarus, Bob was the only reason we survived, and he only helped us because of you. I don’t think I deserved that after I failed you.” Nico surged forward pushing the blades close to Percy’s face. “I thought I hated you, I thought you had failed me,” Riptide was right next to Percy’s throat now, he could see Nico’s arms trembling with the effort to push it back. “But you didn’t give up on me. You kept my secret about my father, in the Labyrinth you tried to reach out to me.” 

“I should have tried harder, you were hurting.” Percy pushed the blades away from his face. They stood with just inches between their faces, their blades locked together. Suddenly Percy pulled his sword down and swooped it around bringing it up, with the point of Riptide right in front of Nico’s face. “I know Bianca’s death wasn’t your fault.” Nico said in a soft voice. Percy lowered his sword not able to meet Nico’s eyes. 

“When I was in Tartarus, I fought through the arae, each one I took down cursed me, it was the pain of everyone I had hurt. I was stabbed, poisoned and tortured.” Percy paused and looked up at Nico, his eyes clouded by the memory, “I almost died but I was saved, again, thanks to your kindness. I didn’t think I deserved it, and I still don’t think I do. But it means a lot to hear you say that, I know I hurt you.” Percy finally met Nico’s eyes, “It’s been so hard to move on since coming back from Tartarus. It’s been a couple of years, but sometimes it feels like I am still struggling to breathe in the acidic air.”

Nico glanced down now, his hand tightening on the grip of his sword, “I know exactly what you mean.” After a long pause he continued, “It has taken a long time for me to understand that everyone is responsible for their own actions, that means even Bianca.” 

The two of them stood there in silence, panting from the exertion of their fight. Percy couldn’t tell if it was sweat or tears on his face. He didn’t realize how much he needed to hear that Nico didn’t hate him. He had been carrying this burden for so long. “Are you thirsty? Let’s take a water break.”

The two of them climbed up the fire escape and into Percy’s open window. Nico looked around Percy’s room, raising an eyebrow at the collage and other scattered items on the floor, his old skateboard propped up against the wall. “Do you still skateboard?” 

“Not really, do you?”

“I just started; Mr. D recommended finding a hobby that doesn’t have anything to do with being a demigod.” 

“Cool! Let me know if you want any tips, it’s been a while, but I know a few good spots to check out.” Percy turned serious, “You better wear a helmet.”

“Will’s got that covered,” Nico grumbled.

Instantly curious Percy says, “So tell me about him!” They walk out of his bedroom and into the kitchen while Nico rambles about Will, how he can glow in the dark, and about his gentle nature.  
This was the longest Percy had ever heard Nico talk uninterrupted, he normally kept his comments short, snarky and to the point. Percy could tell how much Nico cared and could see the way Will brought out the best in him. He enjoyed getting to build this friendship on something other than shared pain. 

After their water break, they went back outside to spar again. This time the clang of their blades hitting was only interrupted by the grunts of exertion. Percy finally knocked Nico’s blade out of his hand and Nico stood defenseless against Riptide which Percy held against his chest. “I’ve got some errands to run before everyone gets back, but do you want to come over for Hanukah tonight?” He lowered his sword, trying to not make the invitation come off as a threat. 

“I’m not Jewish.” 

“Oh yeah, me neither, but Paul is. For me it’s about the family, the tradition and the food. Mostly the latkes. They are the ideal form of the potatoes.” 

“Have you had fries before?” 

“Come over for dinner and see for yourself.” Percy said with a grin. He started climbing up the fire escape to his window and Nico picked up his sword. By the time Percy made it up to his window he turned around and Nico was gone. 

Paul, Sally and Estelle came back with a flurry of noise, Percy was napping on the couch and was awoken by Estelle placing her freezing cold hands on his face. He instantly woke up and leapt to standing on the couch with Riptide out in front in a defensive position. Sally quickly pulled Estelle back out of range of his sword and Paul put his hands up and approached Percy. Percy’s face was sleepy, confused and scared. “Hey, it’s okay, you are at home. We didn’t mean to startle you.” Percy looks around and blinks taking in the scene, Sally with Estelle and Paul standing in front of them. 

Percy slowly lowers his sword and looks around for the cap to the pen. Paul picks it up off the floor and hands it to him. Climbing down from the couch Percy looks heartbroken, “I’m sorry, I would never hurt you guys.” In his head whispered doubts, could he have accidentally hurt Estelle? His mom? The thoughts scared him. 

“We know. It’s okay.” 

Percy caps Riptide and returns it to his pocket. He is tempted to throw it across the room but knows it’s pointless as it would only return. He hated that his first instinct upon waking up is to attack. “I’m so sorry, I… I just got scared.” 

“It’s okay honey, it takes time,” Sally says. Estelle is still in her arms, she looks scared but isn’t crying. “We are going to go get ready for dinner, why don’t you take a moment for yourself.” 

“I invited Nico if that’s okay.” Percy said, he wasn’t sure if he was ready to see anyone after that, his heart was still racing. 

“Great! I’m so glad, we will set an extra place setting for him.” 

Percy went to his room while Paul, Sally and Estelle went into the kitchen to set out the menorahs and get ready for dinner. Sitting outside the window was Nico di Angelo. He had changed, his black jeans were no longer ripped, and he had a black button-down shirt on with silver chains hanging from his jeans. He wore a black leather jacket to complete the look, his aviator jacket left back at camp. Percy opened the window and let him in, “You know you could ring the doorbell too.”

“I uh, don’t actually know which apartment number you live on.” 

“Oh ha, its 4C for next time.” Percy’s chuckle faded into an awkward silence.

“Why do you like you just saw a ghost?”

Percy looked down and ran his hands through his hair before looking up at Nico, “I was asleep and Estelle startled me awake… I pulled out Riptide and almost attacked them.” Dropping his head he says softly, “This isn’t the first time its happened.” 

Nico looks at Percy silent for a moment, he looks torn about what he should say, “That happens to me too, Will is the only one who can wake me up without getting attacked.”

Percy stays silent but finally meets Nico’s eyes, “You too huh? I always just try to set an alarm, so I don’t get startled…” Percy trailed off.

“But the nightmares usually wake you up first?” Nico finished. Percy nods. 

“Let’s go eat dinner, I promised you latkes! Also, I’m sorry if Paul asks you any personal questions, he is just like that, but he means no harm.” Percy and Nico walk out of their bedroom to the kitchen where the menorahs and the table is set. Sally doesn’t say anything about Nico not coming through the front door, but Paul looks confused. Before he can ask Percy answers, “This is Nico, he is the son of Hades so he normally shows up outside my window instead of the front door because he likes to be dramatic.” Nico gives Percy a look at the son of Hades comment, but Percy shrugs it off and whispers, “He already knows about Poseidon.” 

“So, Nico, you are like Percy?” Paul asks after a moment, processing Percy’s introduction.

“You could say that.” Percy interrupts Nico, “He’s not from the same century though!”

Paul turns to look at Nico whose face is turning red, “Yeah uh, I fled Italy with my family from Mussolini’s rule. We came here and then I got trapped into the Lotus Hotel for about 80 years and here I am now.” Paul’s face could not contain his excitement. He was an English teacher but had a soft spot for history. “Percy can tell you about the Lotus Hotel though, he’s been there.”   
Paul and Sally turn to Percy, “When exactly was this?” Sally asks. “A long time ago, nothing to worry about, we just accidentally stumbled in when trying to get back Zeus’ Master Bolt, but we didn’t get trapped as long as Nico.” Percy glares at Nico, not wanting to give his Mom extra things to worry about. 

Paul starts to hand out the candles, today Percy chooses all blue. While Sally helps Estelle with her candles Percy explains to Nico how it works, which one is the Shamash, and why the candles go from right to left. Finally, they are all ready, Percy let’s Nico hold his Shamash and Paul strikes a match to light his own before lighting everyone else’s. Percy is holding Estelle’s tonight. Paul leads the blessing. 

Quickly the room is bathed in a warm glow, with five candles on each menorah, each evening gets bright and brighter, filling the apartment with its sense of warmth and joy in the unexplainable miracle that is being remembered. The remaining shadows in the room all slightly bend toward Nico as they all take their seats. Percy gets up to help bring in the food with Sally. Percy sits down and turns to Nico with a very serious expression on his face, “Okay, so you say you have never had a latke before, there is only one proper way to eat a latke, it must be with applesauce.” Nico nods along as Percy puts a latke on his plate with a dab of applesauce before loading his own plate with a heaping pile of applesauce and latkes. The rest of the meal was Sally’s cooking which Nico recalled was delicious as always. 

Nico was a little nervous about the latkes, he didn’t want to disappoint Percy. While Percy was busy shoveling food into his mouth, Nico took a tentative bite of the latke without the applesauce. It was delicious, crispy and perfectly warm. The next bite he included the applesauce. Shear perfection. It was the perfect combination of soggy with the applesauce and the crunch of the latke. Nico looked up to see Percy staring at home, both Paul and Sally were focusing on Estelle, trying to make sure some food made it into her mouth rather than the floor. “Well? Was it everything I said and more?” Nico swallowed his bite, “And more.” He grinned before taking another bite. The room was quiet as everyone enjoyed Sally and Paul’s cooking. 

Estelle seemed to be finishing up and so Sally took her to take a bath while Paul, Nico and Percy remained at the table. “So, Nico, tell me a little bit about yourself, do you still speak Italian? Any siblings-” 

“He’s a kind of private person-”

“Percy, its okay.” Percy turned to look at Nico, maybe what he had said in the alley earlier was true. “I had one sister, but she died…a few years ago.” 

“I’m so sorry, I didn’t mean to pry.”

“It’s fine. It still hurts, but I’ve come to terms with it. And yeah, I do still speak Italian.” The atmosphere in the room slowly relaxed as Paul asked Nico more questions about his childhood and what it was like growing up in Italy. Percy found himself getting to know a new side of Nico. A less violent side. 

The three of them talked for an hour, the dishes sitting unwashed on the table. Paul told funny stories about Percy from their year of school together and Nico laughed so hard he almost cried hearing about the ways Percy would get in trouble. 

“Well, I heard that you wore a matching Hawaiian shirt with Coach Hedge.” Percy countered.

Nico glared, “And how exactly do you know this?” 

“Nothing stays a secret at camp,” Percy wiggled his eyebrows dramatically. “I only wish there had been picture evidence.” 

“That’s another thing that has changed, the way we think about memories. I don’t have any pictures with my Mom and only a couple with my sister. Our memories were passed down through stories and objects more than pictures.” Nico commented. 

“You know, I would love to interview you for my class sometime. We could do some research; I would be happy to search for any lost photos or family history with you. I’m not exactly sure how to cite it, I guess you would be a primary source...” Paul trails off lost in thought at the many possibilities. 

“Come on, Nico, let’s head out before we have to do the dishes.” Percy stands up to leave. 

“Thank you Mr. Blofis. For your delicious meal. I was raised Catholic and this is my first time celebrating a Jewish holiday. Thank you for sharing it with me.” 

“It was an honor to meet you, and I think you of all people understand how important it is to share our joy and sorrow with each other, through sharing our traditions.” Paul started to clear the dishes while Percy walked Nico to the living room. 

“I’m sorry about all the questions, I didn’t expect it to turn into an interrogation like that.”

“That’s okay, I kind of enjoyed it,” Nico said realizing this was the first time he had talked about his family like that in a long time. Jason had been the last one to talk to him about his past like that. Everyone else tiptoed around it, afraid to hurt him but mostly afraid of the discomfort of the conversation. 

“I really enjoyed hanging out with you today, we should definitely do it again. And let me know if you want any tips for skateboarding too!” They had arrived at the front door. 

“Maybe.” Before Percy can open the door, Nico walks straight through it and disappears. 

That night Percy thought about his tumultuous friendship with Nico, how it started and where it is now, a budding friendship being built on trust. He was hopeful that Nico would come by again for another sparring session, or maybe even just to chat. It was comforting to know that he wasn’t the only one struggling with the repercussions of Tartarus. Percy had forgotten to follow up and ask Nico’s full opinion on the latkes, but he was pretty sure his facial expression had said everything he needed to know.


	5. Fifth Night

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Sally and Percy spend the day together and then come home to light the candles. Things get a little out of hand during Estelle's bath time when Percy offers to help.

It was 6am and Percy was not happy to be awake. He had woken up from a nightmare and was trying to fall back asleep with little success. After about an hour he rolled out of bed and ventured into the kitchen. There he found his Mom wide awake and typing on her computer. He walked around silently waiting her to finish typing her thought out. He had learned the hard way not to interrupt her writing when she was on a roll. 

Since Estelle had been born Sally had continued to write but had to find new times to fit it in to her schedule. Normally she would go to a local café for a few hours once Paul came home from his work, but with Percy home for the holidays l she didn’t want to waste the little time they had together. Instead, she woke up early and spent her mornings typing away at the kitchen table. She finished her paragraph as Percy was pouring a glass of orange juice. She turned around to face him as he stood by the counter. Glass in one hand and juice carton in the other, ready for an instant refill. “What are you doing up so early?” 

“Couldn’t sleep,” Percy mumbled. His hair was sticking up in every direction. Sally nodded, seeing him early in the morning was not an uncommon affair. “I was thinking we could go out today, spend the day just the two of us, like we used to, we could go to the old candy shop, see a movie? I saw Aquaman got good reviews.” Sally laughed knowing what he was about to say, “No, first of all its offensive to me and second of all, I am not opening myself up to that line of teasing. That movie does not exist to me.” She was amused, at his line of reasoning and at the control his friends have over him, the jokes just wrote themselves with that movie. “Well is there another movie you want to see?” 

“You can choose,” he paused, “Just not Aquaman.” 

“Okay, just saying, I don’t think Jason Momoa could hold his own against you.” Percy rolled his eyes in response as she continued,” I will look up movie times once I’m done with my writing session.” 

Sally went back to her writing, Percy went to the alley to run some drills and train.

“So are you going to tell me which movie you picked,” Percy asked as he held the door to the candy shop open. “Nope,” Sally responds with a mischievous look on her face. Percy’s attention quickly switched to his immediate surroundings, Sweet on America, Sally’s old workplace. While she no on longer worked there, most of the workers still knew her and gave her the employee discount. It had become a tradition to stop by every time they went to the movies together. 

Percy fell into the routine, picking up a bag and slowly making his way around the room while Sally went to the cash register to chat with her old collogues. The shop was overwhelming with its sweet sugary smell, but Percy was a creature of habit. He had not tried anything new since coming here, instead heading to the jellybean wall and filling his bag with blueberry, berry blue, island punch and wild blackberry. He also stuck a few red cinnamon and black licorice ones for when Sally would try to steal some them during the movie. Two could play at that game, she would be in for a surprise (it had only backfired on him a couple times so far. He figured it was worth it though.) He finished filling the bag, hiding the other colors in the middle and went up to the cash register. 

Today it was Sherill, he remembered her from when his Mom used to work here. She was wearing the uniform, her hair a little grayer than he remembered but everything else was the same, her black cat eyeglasses and red fingernails. “It’s been so long since I’ve seen you!” she exclaimed to Percy. “Yeah, I’ve been pretty busy with school actually.”

“High school?”

“College actually,” Sherill made a face as if she couldn’t believe he had made it out of high school. “I know I barely believed it myself.” She made a sour face not expecting him to call her bluff. Her face contrasted with the sweetness emanating from the shop. While Sally had worked there, they had all been friends by proximity, but they liked him more for watching him crash and burn than genuine interest in his life. After his first stint being accused of being a terrorist, they had become warry of him, relegating him to gossip and as a fable in their own families. A warning of who they should not be. She switched topics, “Was that you I saw on the news the other day?” Percy’s face turned red, but he had not actually done anything wrong, the aquarium had issued a statement that no one had fallen into a tank while the sharks were being fed and that the video was just a fancy green screen. The viral video was now being torn apart by different factions of the internet trying to figure out how it had been made if he wasn’t actually in the tank. His friends were only fueled on by the speculation. These types of things made him glad he didn’t have a cell phone, “I don’t really watch the news,” Percy deflected the questions. With that Sally finished paying and they continued on their way to the movie theatre. Never one to leave without the last word Sally called out, “He’s studying marine biology! Getting straight A’s too!” And then left.

“I didn’t get straight A’s this semester,” Percy mumbled a little embarrassed to her.

“She doesn’t need to know that, and hey B’s are A’s for you. You should be proud of your grades.” They kept walking another block until they got to the movie theatre. “What’s your guess?”

“I would say Frozen 2, but Estelle isn’t here, and I don’t really think you want to watch that any times more than necessary.” 

“You would be correct about that.”

Walking into the theatre, it was empty except for the few other day time movie watchers. They ended up with the theatre to themselves, Aquaman seeming to be the most popular movie at the moment. Percy still has no clue until the credits start and he heard the sounds of ABBA. Turning to Sally he whispers in horror, “Is this Mama Mia?” With glee on her face, “Mama Mia 2!” The movie starts and Percy turns around and looks at the screen in silence slouching down and putting his feet on the seat in front of him, exactly how his mom hates. 

Halfway through the movie, all the jellybeans are gone. Sally got all the trick ones and Percy is fully engaged sitting up in his seat. He is laughing out loud at all the right moments and even dancing along to the music in his seat. Sally keeps sneaking glances to watch him watch the movie, but she doesn’t want him to feel self-conscious. When the credits roll Percy is amped up and loved it but doesn’t want to admit it. Sally loved it, as she expected to, but enjoyed watching Percy have fun too. “So what’d you think?” 

“It was fine,” Percy answered, just as stubborn as his Mom. 

“Just fine?” 

“The songs were catchy but it wasn’t really realistic.” 

“I don’t think movies have to be realistic.” 

“All I’m saying is if I my visit to Greece went that well, I might not have returned home,” Sally glared at him. “I would have come home, I mean, I just might have wanted to stay longer.” After another pause, “Wouldn’t you?” 

Sally conceded with a grin, “I’m glad you liked the movie.”

“I didn’t like it.”

They hopped back onto the subway in silence and enjoyed each other’s presence on the walk home. A block from their apartment was their favorite Chinese food restaurant and so they stopped to get takeout. Sally tried to help Percy carry everything but he merely walked faster, “If I can hold the weight of the world then I can carry all of this food by myself.” 

“You shouldn’t have to do it by yourself,” she responded. Percy could sense that she was talking about more than just the food but decided to miss her point, “This is the part where you say ‘wow so strong! Thanks!” Sally sighed and in a bad impression of her son said, “Wow so stubborn!” 

Walking to their apartment door, Sally rummaged around for her keys, but Paul got the door before she could insert them into the lock. “Hello! Food!” Estelle was standing behind Paul, wearing no pants and just a shirt. Percy put the food down and ran to tackle Estelle in a hug, he lifted her up and she giggled, “Hello there my sea horse!” Estelle giggled again and did her best impression of a seahorse but really just looked like a starfish as she stuck out all her arms and legs, accidentally punching Percy in the neck. He put her down to regain her breath and saw both Paul and Sally watching him adoringly. “It just makes me so happy all of us are together.” Sally sighed almost tearing up. 

It was time to light the candles, and while Paul lit the Shamash Percy helped Estelle place the candles in her menorah. Each day the room would grow brighter, and Percy enjoyed the warm glow from the candles and the way the flames reflected in the windows dancing around the room. Today he had to melt the candles into the menorah holding them over the flame so they would not fall over. Percy almost caught his sleeve on fire by trying to reach across to help Estelle light her candles but just barely caught it in time. He was glad Leo wasn’t here, he didn’t want him to try to light the candles without a match, with Leo things could get out of hand pretty quickly.

They all fell into a content silence while eating, Percy enjoyed watching the steady drip of wax onto the aluminum foil below. It piled up into different shapes as it cooled. When Annabeth came over, she liked to stick her fingers in the hot wax and play with it. Percy was more apprehensive and just watched it from afar. He’d been burned too many times before to want to actually try playing with anything close to real fire.

Estelle got half her meal in her hair and needed a bath before bed, “I can give her a bath,” Percy offered. Sally smiled, “No. Last time I let you give her a bath every single wall of the bathroom was soaking wet. I don’t think there was single dry towel in the apartment.” Percy looked sheepish but didn’t deny it happened, “We were reenacting Into the Unknown from Frozen, it just got a little out of hand.” Estelle giggled, “It won’t happen this time, I promise.” Percy gives Sally a pleading look. “Fine, but I don’t want to come in there and everything be soaking wet.” 

Percy rushes off to give Estelle a bath before Sally changes her mind. Percy started to fill the bath while helping Estelle pull off her food covered clothes. He didn’t have to wait for the hot water to warm, only for it to fill. Once it was full, he stuck his hand in the water and waited until it rose to a comfortable temperature and then removed his hand. It was another thing he had discovered he could do while in college. It came in handy when everyone else in the dorm had used up the hot water. 

Estelle was climbing into the tub and Percy retrieved the rubber ducks. “Frozen again?” Estelle nodded, Percy would never admit it, just like he wouldn’t admit to liking Mama Mia, but the songs were catchy, and Olaf was funny. Percy could relate to talking to the reindeer too. He still preferred Moana over Frozen. 

Quickly their reenactment got out of hand, Estelle was soaking wet, Percy was still dry but the ceiling, towels, toilet paper and everything else in the bathroom was not. Out in the kitchen Sally could hear Percy’s off-key rendition of “Let it Go.” She hoped it was just singing and not a water palace being built. But when she heard a big splash she went over to investigate, just to be sure. Upon opening the door Sally saw a clean and happy Estelle, her hair already shampooed, dry towels, counters and ceiling and a dry Percy. When she looked up, she saw a giant ball of water hovering over Percy’s head. He was trying to look casual, but his right eyebrow was twitching showing the effort it took to hold the water above his head. “I’m glad to see everything is dry,” Percy nodded in response but even that took away from his focus and the ball of water dropped soaking him and splashing Sally in the process. 

Percy stood there in silence not really sure how to defend himself. Sally was trying really hard to look stern, but a small smile made its way onto her face. How could she be mad at him? Estelle stood up and declared, “I’m done.” Percy turned around to pick up Estelle and wrap her in a fluffy green towel. “I’ll take it from here and let you clean up,” Sally said with a chuckle taking a wiggling Estelle from Percy’s arms. 

Sally goes to put Estelle to bed, Paul comes from the kitchen to read their bedtime stories together and peeks inside the bathroom. He gives a nod of approval, seeing the rubber ducks, the puddles and Percy’s soaking wet hair before continuing on after Sally. “I see Frozen has gotten to you as well.” 

“There’s no escape” Percy agreed. 

Left alone in the bathroom Percy quickly wicked the water from his hair, his clothes and the puddle on the floor and put it back into the bathtub. Before draining it, he forced the rubber ducks to do a final act, they didn’t get to finish Elsa and Anna’s reunion and he didn’t want to leave them on a sad note. 

Tomorrow would be the sixth night of Hanukah and after that he only had a couple of weeks before he had to drive back to school. It felt like time was passing faster than ever but Percy was enjoying his time at home. He felt content and safe. There hadn’t been a single monster attack or spotting since Hanukah had begun, maybe it was a Hanukah miracle, but he didn’t want to jinx it.

He was already in bed, hugging his Panda Pillow pet, still without a name, when Sally came in to say good night. She sat on the edge of his bed, “I never tell you this enough, but I am so proud of you.” Percy wasn’t sure what had caused this conversation, but it felt so good to hear. He knew his Mom loved him, but sometimes it felt like he could never live up to everyone’s expectations, especially after the way Sherill had talked to him in the candy shop. “Thanks Mom. You know, I’m really proud of you too. Who you’ve become and what you’ve done with your writing career and everything.” Sally leaned down to kiss the top of his head and got a whiff of the ocean and a lingering sent of Estelle’s shampoo. They talked until Percy started to drift to sleep, mumbling nonsense about brownie recipes and Las Vegas water shows.


	6. Sixth Night

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The Hunters of Artemis stop by during the day. Thalia and Percy hang out and talk about grief and the future.

Percy woke up to the smell of doughnuts and coffee, he doesn’t drink coffee, but he sure loves doughnuts. He gets out of bed to investigate. Walking into the kitchen in his pajamas, with his hair sticking straight up he sees two boxes of a dozen doughnuts each. Another person might have found that suspicious, that many doughnuts for four people, but Percy was just excited. He grabbed two from the top box, a simple glazed and a chocolate cake doughnut with sprinkles before wandering around the apartment to find everyone else. It sounded like someone was in the shower and the stroller was missing from the front hall, someone must have taken Estelle for a walk. 

Finishing up his doughnuts, leaving a trail of crumbs where he walked, (Sally wasn’t there to chastise him) he went back to his room to change before climbing out his window, down the fire escape and out to train. First, he grabbed his old first-generation iPod. It had been a graduation gift and he really loved it. It seemed to be old enough to not attract monsters, now Percy could finally listen to music on his own, not just the radio. It had become a trusty study buddy for college. Thank goodness early Apple devices were built like a brick because he has dropped it so many times, he didn’t know how it still worked. Regardless, this morning he loaded it up with new music, other than the Led Zeppelin, The Wonder Years and Rush he added some ABBA. He would never admit it to his mom, but some of those songs where catchy. 

Climbing out his window and down the fire escape, he pulls out Riptide and begins to run drills. There hadn’t been a prophecy for him in years, but he never wanted to feel dull or unprepared, especially because the monster attacks hadn’t stop, just the godly favor requests. With his headphones in he didn’t hear them approach, but he spins around when he feels a show whizz by his ear. Turning around he sees Estelle wearing one shoe and grinning while Sally leans against the stroller and waves with a smile on her face. Percy takes out his earbuds and walks over to hand back the shoe, forgetting to pause the music, Sally hears ABBA leaking out of the earbuds. She goes to say something, but Percy talks first, “Don’t say I told you so,” he growls. With his sword in one hand, Estelle’s shoe in the other and wearing his old gym uniform from high school he only comes off slightly intimidating but mostly confused, his outfit giving him one look, the sword another and his bedhead the final nail in the coffin of not looking scary. 

Sally rolls her eyes at him trying to be scary and says, “Come inside when you’re done!” Percy puts Estelle’s shoe back on and they go around the corner to the front of their apartment building. Twenty minutes later Percy is climbing back into his bedroom window when he hears lots of voices in the kitchen. More than the normal amount. He’s still in his sweaty clothes with his hair now sticking up in even more ridiculous directions when he walks into the kitchen for some water and encounters a group of girls in silvery clothing. They were all eating doughnuts, this must be why there was so many doughnuts on the table this morning Percy thought to himself. Nearest the table he sees a dark head of hair and a silver circlet around her head. “Thalia?” Percy says out confused. Why in the world would she be in his kitchen? His apartment? 

Thalia looks up and the rest of the hunters quiet down. “You look like you smell,” Percy takes that as a challenge and charges Thalia to give her a hug. Thalia quickly sidesteps him but in the small space doesn’t have many options of where to go while Percy quickly pivots and gives her a sweaty hug. “I don’t smell.” Thalia breaks away and gives him a grin, “Fine but you need to take a shower.” “Hey, I’m in my own home, I can look however I want. Anyway, I didn’t know you were coming.” With that last comment he looks around for Sally to give her a pointed look. He found her in the doorway, minus Estelle. When he looked over the hunters in the room, he realized that Estelle was being held by one of them. “How do you guys even know each other?”

“They just stop by when they’re in town,” Sally smiles at Thalia, a smile that looks like this isn’t the first, second or even third time they have all met. Ugh, Percy thinks, of course my Mom knows the Hunters of Artemis. “Well, Estelle’s not joining the Hunt. She’s staying far away from all of this stuff.” “Typical boy telling us what to do,” Percy heard a new girl he didn’t recognize mutter. He ignored it walking over to the sink to get the water he originally entered the kitchen for. 

When Percy came back from his shower, in fresh clothes, dry hair (although it was still sticking up in random directions) and wearing deodorant he found the Hunters of Artemis with their bows out showing Estelle how it worked. They were naming the different parts of the bow that Estelle would point to, and they had even set up a target for demonstration. “Hey, we aren’t allowed to use deadly weapons in the living room!” Percy shouted. Everyone stopped what they were doing and turned to him, again. What was with them? Percy thought, every time he said something they all looked so annoyed. 

Thalia spoke up, “Oh we got permission don’t worry.” Percy turned to Sally who nodded in agreement. “What?!” 

“Maybe its just because we are better at handling weapons,” Thalia shot off in response. Sally turned to Percy, “I know you broke that picture frame the other day.” Percy was starting to get angry, “How in the world did you know that? It could have been knocked over by Estelle or someone’s elbow, it wasn’t necessarily a sword.” The rest of the hunters laughed while Percy’s face turned red, Thalia decided to spare her friend the embarrassment and signaled for the hunters to put away their weapons for now. They all obeyed and put their bows back by the entryway with their coats. Percy couldn’t find Paul but figured he had the right idea staying away from the scorn of the Hunters. 

Right on cue Paul opened the front door with a few boxes of pizza from Percy’s favorite place. He would admit he had several favorites, but really, he couldn’t define one pizza as the best because each place had a different part of the pizza going for it, this place had the best crust. After all, pizza was pizza, if they didn’t try to make it too fancy it couldn’t go wrong. 

Percy knew that the Hunters spent most of their time, well, hunting, but he had not expected the way that they pounced on the pizza as if they were wild animals. Maybe it rubbed off. I guess that just shows the power of pizza Percy thought to himself. As they ate, Paul tries to start a conversation with one of the Hunters, Percy is surprised when they don’t respond with an eyeroll but actually talk to him. “Of course, they don’t ignore him,” Percy mutters under his breath. Thalia looks at him, “It’s only because Sally approves, they respect her for what happened to Gabe.” Percy stares his face shocked at Thalia, Sally and him never really discussed it with anyone. 

“How do you know about that?” Percy asks. Thalia doesn’t answer but just stares into space ignoring the question. Percy watches in silence while Paul starts talking about history again, this time it sounds like he is talking about Renaissance painters. He guessed that’s one of the really old hunters, he always gets so weirded out thinking these teenage girls could be over a hundred years old. After his fourth slice of pizza, Percy gots up to find Sally, she has Estelle on her lap, and are listening to stories from Julianna, a new hunter that he has never seen before, Estelle looks enraptured. Percy feels a little left out. 

“I’ve got some errands to run, I’m going to head out for a bit.” He says as he goes to the front of the apartment, grabbing his wallet and keys from the table by the door. “Okay honey, we are lighting the candles at six.” Percy tosses a thumbs up in her direction before heading out the door. 

Before he makes it to the elevator, he hears the door close behind him and sees Thalia coming up in the elevator’s reflection. “I’m tagging along.” She says as a statement and not a question. They ride down to the street in a comfortable silence and Thalia follows as Percy turns left and they start walking down the block. 

“What have you been up to?” Percy asks to break the silence. Thalia shrugs, “You know, hunter business.”

“Ah so you can’t tell me about it.” Thalia grinned, “No, I’m just messing with you, we’ve been hunting invasive species in California, Grover got to us.” She rolls her eyes. Percy chuckles and they fall into their usual banter as they walk. The time passes quickly, Percy picks up his pictures from the photography shop and they wander around the city, stopping for ice cream before heading back to the apartment. He is taller than Thalia now, even taller than last time and he for the first time since middle school he feels awkward in his own body. It feels wrong that he is so much taller than her. She is going to stay the same forever. It makes him think about the immortality he turned down all those years ago. But he reminds himself, he has Annabeth, and he has his family, he wouldn’t want to have to watch Estelle grow up from afar, watch her get older than him. 

Percy stops walking suddenly and Thalia almost crashes into him. She gives him a glare for good measure. Percy isn’t sure if he should say it, but Thalia as always can read his face, “Spit it out Jackson.” 

“How are you going to say goodbye to us? When we die?” Thalia scoffs, “You think you are that important?” trying to laugh off the question. She pauses and exhales a shaky breath, “You know, I don’t really know. I’ve talked to the other hunters about it, especially the older ones. It’s hard you know? I’ve got this second chance at life, yet I’m saying goodbye to the people in it before I’ve even got a chance to know them again. But everything else I did felt wrong. This feels like I really get to be me, without the responsibility of everyone else placed on me. It’s going to be hard, trust me, I know. But I’ve made it this far, and so I’m just hoping I can make it through that. That’s all I got, that’s the only thing keeping me going. I’m moving forward with hope.” Thalia stops talking. “I’ve got about another 80 years with Annabeth and maybe 50 with you.” Now Percy glares at Thalia, “What? I only said 50 because of your proximity to Annabeth. You would accidentally walk in front of a bus if you didn’t have Annabeth saving you every minute.” With that Percy tries to shove Thaila in front of a bus, jokingly. But only gets her as far as the curb when he gets judo flipped over her shoulder. From the grimy New York sidewalk Percy sighs, “Did Annabeth teach you that?” 

“I taught her that. Dork.” She offers her hand to help him up and they finish the rest of the walk to the apartment. Upon entering the apartment Percy and Thalia find a scene of chaos. Half of the hunters are asleep, scattered across the floor and sofa while a few or in the kitchen, the cabinets open and with wrenches in hand, messing with the plumbing. There were more in the bathroom and others by the water heater. Estelle and Paul are in the hallway watching weapons demonstrations. 

“I didn’t know you guys where this knowledgeable about modern plumbing,” Percy commented sarcastically to Thalia. “We do more than just hunt you know. No one else is going to repair our campsites when we are in the middle of the wild. Taco Tuesday night can mess up anyone’s stomach. Even an immortal.”

“They wouldn’t need to help with the plumbing if you didn’t mess with it every time you got excited or angry,” Sally called out from the kitchen. Percy rolled his eyes and grinned at Thalia. He stayed in the living room with her and only made sudden bursts of water come out of the pipes a couple times, enjoying the shouts of surprise that immediately followed. 

Once finished, they began to pack up. Sally invited them to stay for lighting the candles and for dinner, but Thalia insists that they must be on their way. Estelle gives each hunter a hug goodbye as they walk through the front door. Sally and Paul stand just outside the door waving goodbye and handing off cookies that Sally somehow got a chance to bake. Finally it is just Thalia left to say good bye. She gives Sally a quick hug and whispers something in her ear, all Percy can hear is Sally’s response, “You are all welcome here anytime you need to or just want to stop bye.” She gives Thalia an extra squeeze and comes over to give Percy a hug. “This is how I do it. I say goodbye on my terms. Every single time. People like us? We don’t always get another chance.” 

With the hunters gone, the apartment feels empty and too quiet. They all go to the kitchen to set up for dinner. Tonight was leftovers, pizza, lasagna, warmed up Chinese food. Percy helped Estelle set up her candles, and had to melt the bottom into each spot as the wax from the previous nights built up making it too shallow for the candle to stand on their own. Paul said the prayer and the room is lit with the warm glow of the flames. Sitting in the glow Percy thinks about grief, and about Thalia. He has lost so many people, Thalia has lost so many people. But they learned how to keep going, how to honor their loss, to keep the memory alive. Each candle in the menorah represented a miracle, oil that had lasted longer than it should have. It represents hope. And looking at the flickering flames, watching the wax drip down, he could understand how Thalia could come to terms with her immortality, how her hope keeps her going.


	7. Seventh Night

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Percy goes on a date with Annabeth and reflects on his relationship to Hanukkah.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry about the delay, my computer broke and it took awhile to get it back working.

Percy woke up from his nightmare to find Annabeth staring down at him. This morning his pillow pet was clutched in his arms instead of thrown across the room. Percy blinked while Annabeth smiled, he looked so peaceful while he slept and as he slowly awoke, she could see the tension and the past rushing back to weigh him down. Percy kept blinking and rolled over mumbling to himself. “You drool when you sleep,” was all she said. 

“Good morning to you too,” Percy grumbled back. While sleeping he had somehow maneuvered the blanket to come off the end of the bed, so while his body was warm, his feet were cold and sticking out from the end where Annabeth was standing. Annabeth reached out and tickled Percy’s feet. He was surprisingly ticklish and gave a high pitch scream at a pitch so high Annabeth would have not thought it possible if she had not seen it come directly from his mouth. He lashed out with his feet before hopping up and throwing his pillow pet at Annabeth as hard as he could. 

If Sally had walked into the room, she would have found Annabeth laughing on the floor hysterically with a pillow pet on her head with Percy standing in his bed with his hair in every direction and his arms out to each side, ready to defend against Annabeth’s next attack. But Sally would not see it, instead she had let Annabeth in before heading out with Estelle for their weekly Mommy and Me class. 

“See, why can’t I just have a normal morning with a normal girlfriend who doesn’t try to attack me while I was sleeping with my peaceful nightmare.” 

“This is normal, this is what girlfriends are supposed to do.” 

“Are you sure?” Percy looks dubious with one eyebrow raised giving her a pointed look.

“Yes,” Annabeth gets up off the floor and looks like she is preparing to throw the panda pillow pet back at Percy who is sitting down on the edge of his bed, out of his defensive position. 

“Be gentle to Buford.” He says while raising his arms for a hug. 

Annabeth walks over holding Buford the panda pillow pet hugged to her chest. Reaching Percy, he encircles his arms around her waist, Buford against his face and she puts her arms around him. “Buford? Really?” 

“He was pretty good at his job.”

“He was a flying table?”

“The only flying table to not threaten me?” Annabeth pulled away from Percy’s hug to look into his eyes, she loved her dorky boyfriend. Apparently, he could read her thoughts as he stared back, “I love you so much.” Annabeth responded by kissing him. “Ewww your breath is disgusting!” Percy cackled. 

Pulling away from Percy and putting Buford gently back on the bed Annabeth started to walk out of his bedroom, “You want normal? We are going on a date today.” She closes the door to his room so he can get dressed and ready to go, out in the living room she finds Paul on the couch catching up on a book he had started during the school year but had to put down when there was too much grading. Annabeth hung out with Paul while waiting for Percy to shower and get ready. 

Forty minutes later Percy emerges looking freshly showered and dressed in his nice jeans, a button-down shirt and his beat-up sneakers. No band t shirt or sweatshirt in sight. “Well, you look nice, what are you all dressed up for?” Paul asks when he sees him. “Annabeth said we are going on a date, I only want to look my best for her.” 

Annabeth had seen him at his best. She had seen him at his worst. She had seen him dying in her arms, filled with fury and she had seen him torture a god with his power. All dressed up for her, this gesture made her heart swell. He dressed up not because he knew that she only loved him at his best, but because he wanted to be his best for her. Annabeth started to tear up but attempted to hide it behind an impromptu coughing fit. Percy knew what it meant and gave her a crooked grin. Once Annabeth composed herself again, she got her coat and Percy grabbed a pop tart from the kitchen and they went out on their date leaving Paul to read in the empty apartment. 

Outside it was cold but not snowing, the December weather freezing but bearable as it was not super windy. “Where are we going milady?” Annabeth turned to give him a confused glance, “Just trying it out.” He put his arm over her shoulders, as they walked to the subway together. Down on the train they found seats away from everyone else, it was past rush hour and they had the train mostly to themselves. Percy gave the other passengers a wary glance, double checking for any monsters before relaxing against Annabeth. He tried to sit still but the subway made him nervous, all the tunnels reminding him of the Labyrinth, the tunnels in Athens and his trips to the underworld. His leg kept tapping and Annabeth put her hand on it to try to stop it, it was warm and felt reassuring but it didn’t calm his nerves. 

Percy pulled his Nalgene onto his lap from where it was clipped to his jeans with a carabiner, “I haven’t shown anyone this before,” Annabeth looked at his water bottle curious what he meant. She had seen his water bottle before. Percy lifted his shaking hand and Annabeth reached for it to hold it steady but he waved her off. “Just watch.” He lifted his hand again, and made the water droplets dance. Annabeth gasped, it was beautiful. It was elegant and graceful and she loved the lines he made, it reminded her of her favorite parts of architecture, the simplicity of the design, the sleek lines and curves and the way it all came together. It was like watching the designs come to life. “It’s beautiful.” 

“It uh, calms my nerves.” Percy said hesitantly. Annabeth once again reached for his hand and this time Percy let her, he closed the lid of the water bottle and they held hands the rest of the way. His beating heart calmed by being able to control the small things and make something beautiful out of what he had previously only used for destruction. 

Percy followed Annabeth off the subway even though she wouldn’t tell him where they were heading. He knew where they were, but not why. “Are you going to tell me yet?” 

“Nope.”

They walked the block in content silence, “How about now?”

“Nope.” Percy tried his best begging face but she resisted. 

After what felt like forever to Percy they turned a corner and Annabeth pulled him to the side of the sidewalk and stopped walking. “Do you know where we are?” 

“Uh sure,” he looked at the street signs and squinted, “That either says 72 St. or 27th.” 

“Central Park.”

“Well duh, I can see the park. Did you know this is near where I fought my first monster?”

They started walking again into the footpaths that lead into Central Park, there were other people out but the chill kept it from being too busy.

“Sort of?”

“This was months before I went to camp, we were on a field trip to the Metropolitan Museum of Art and Mrs. Dodds singled me out and attacked me. Chiron, who I didn’t know was a centaur back then tossed me Riptide and so I killed her, my math teacher. She just disappeared and Grover and Chiron acted like she never existed. I thought I was going crazy until I got to camp and they finally explained.” 

Annabeth was laughing at the idea of Grover trying to convince Percy his teacher never existed but tried to look serious when he met her eyes, “That’s horrible, although not the worst first monster encounter that I’ve heard of.”

“Yup, at least no one died,” Percy shrugged almost fondly, like those were the good old days. Middle school, before he knew he was a demigod and was just worried about passing his classes and getting sandwiches thrown at his head. He still had to worry about the sandwiches, the Stroll brothers didn’t miss an opportunity when he came to camp but they were the least deadly thing he had been attacked with in awhile. They walked on in silence, their hands swinging between them as they finally reached Annabeth’s destination. 

“Come on!” Annabeth called out walking ahead while Percy stood taking it all in. It was beautiful. The ice rink was surrounded by barren trees filled with ice that had frozen and was slowly dripping during the day and would refreeze at night once the sun went down. To Percy, it felt like a scene out of movie, too good to be true. Too normal. 

Annabeth and Percy spent the afternoon being in love and normal. They raced, fell down, danced along to the rink’s music, almost tripped a little kid and just all around had a perfect afternoon. While Percy could prevent his pants from getting wet when he fell, he couldn’t stop the ice from being hard when he hit it. He was going to have a couple of nasty bruises, but it was worth it. As their session timed out on the ice, the two of them stood in the corner, balancing on their skates. Percy wanted to take it all in. This is what he wanted to remember when he was feeling scared and lonely. These were the moments that got him through it. He went in to hug Annabeth but leaned too far over to her, throwing himself off balance and her in the process. They tipped over and fell onto the ice landing in a pile while laughing. Percy rolled onto his back on the ice, not caring that the cold was seeping through his coat. “Thanks Annabeth, this was perfect.” 

“I think we both needed this.” Just as Annabeth was about to continue, they heard a shout from one of the employees, “Get up off the ice!” Annabeth giggled and Percy scrambled to get up, his feet sliding out from under him as he tried to get his balance and tipped over again. Annabeth couldn’t tell if it was on purpose or not but her face hurt from laughing so much. They made their way off the ice and returned their rental skates. Percy’s jacket was dry and he dried off Annabeth’s to help her stay warm as it was starting to get colder as the sun left the sky and the clouds moved in. There was going to be a storm tomorrow. 

They meandered out of Central Park and stopped at a coffee shop for Percy to get hot chocolate and Annabeth some coffee, a bad habit she had picked up at school. They found a bench and drank in silence warming their hands on their hot drinks. “Are you staying for dinner tonight?”

“Of course, your Mom already invited me this morning.” 

“We are out of latkes you know,” Percy finished up his hot chocolate and tried to toss it into the trash can across from their bench. He missed and groaned while getting up to go actually put it in the trash. “That’s fine, I love whatever your Mom makes.”

“She’s the best isn’t she?” 

“The best.” Annabeth agreed. 

As they made their way back Percy thought about Hanukkah. He was starting to understand why Paul liked it so much. It wasn’t just about the pretty lights, it wasn’t just about the food and the tradition. Percy was starting to create his own meaning for it, and that meant family. It gave him days to slow down life and enjoy his family and friends. It gave him the opportunity to show his Mom his appreciation and to shower Estelle with his love. It was a reminder of all that he loved about his life, even the hard parts. It gave perfect afternoons with Annabeth and a budding friendship with Nico. Tomorrow was the last night of Hanukkah and was Percy was sad that it was almost over. 

They got back just in time to light the candles, Paul saying the blessings and Estelle lighting the candles with Sally’s tight grip around her hand making sure she didn’t get burned by hot wax. The whole room was glowing with the warm flickering light. Annabeth had to go back home afterward promising a game night with her family. After a quick good night kiss Percy went on to dish duty. When he came back to look at the candles, they were just nubs of flame, piles of wax below on the aluminum foil. He sat down to stare and was entranced by the dancing flames. He sat to watch as each flame snuffed out until there was just one left on Paul’s menorah. He then heard footsteps in the hallway, purposefully loud he knew so he would not be startled, he knew that Paul could walk much quieter than that. Percy did not turn away from the flame until he felt a hand land on his shoulder, “Do you want to watch a movie with us?” Percy turned to look up, “Sure, one sec.” When he turned back around, he caught the puff of smoke that meant the candle had gone out. 

Paul retreated to the living room to start turning the TV on while Percy stood up to follow, watching the last of the smoke drift up towards the ceiling. It was calming to watch each candle burn down and despite their best effort, they went out. They went out so gently it could be easily missed. It was a delicate balance and Percy thought of the miracle they represented and how quickly it could go out, but he also thought of the warm glow from the flames. The way that feeling lingered longer than the smoke.

Dashing to his room, Percy grabbed Buford the Panda Pillowpet and situated himself in the armchair with Sally and Paul cuddled on the couch. He grabbed an extra blanket and got comfortable in the arm chair, hugging Buford to his chest and wrapping the blanket around him. Paul started the movie without even telling him what it was. Percy knew what this meant, it was another one of Paul’s old favorites, he knew if he told Percy what it was about, there would be no chance of him sticking around for the ending. Paul had tried to get Percy to watch the old Wonder Women television shows like this, but Percy had left after the first episode. After having met real Amazons, it felt too fake. It also brought up bad memories, being trapped in yet another cage. 

As Percy thought about last time Paul picked a movie, he realized there were a lot of things that brought up bad memories. But there were a lot of good moments sprinkled in there as well. Just like the warmth of the candle lasted longer than the smoke, the moment the candle extinguished didn’t outlive its effect. 

Sally dozed off towards the end, but Percy stayed rapt. This one wasn’t half bad. Indiana Jones was someone he could relate too. Just trying to do his job but always having people trying to kill him. Maybe Percy could have a life like him, dodging monsters but also just being a regular professor. It didn’t have to be one or the other. Survival could also mean thriving not just staying alive. After the movie finished Percy gave a sleepy good night hug to Sally and Paul before wandering off to his room, Buford in his arms and the blanket dragging behind him. That night Percy dreamed of being chased through a temple filled with booby traps and accidentally looking upon the true form of a god.


	8. The Final Night

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Percy celebrates the last night of Hanukkah cooking at home with his family.

Percy slept in unusually late for himself, it was 9:30am when he emerged from his room almost feeling rested. With full on bed head, he entered the kitchen to find it full, Sally preparing a mid-morning snack for Estelle, Estelle getting cranky from hunger and Paul drinking some coffee. He needed it to be empty for plan.

In his flannel pajama pants and ratty t-shirt he shuffled sleepily to the refrigerator getting ready to make scrambled eggs. Sally was cutting celery and had the peanut butter out ready to fill the celery sticks with them. When she was facing the cutting board, Percy snatched a fruit snack packet from the cabinet and would quietly hand Estelle one each time he passed by the table. 

The scrambled eggs came out perfect and so Percy took it as a good sign for the rest of his endeavors for the day. He had an ambitious meal planned out and kicked Sally and Estelle out once they had finished eating, winking at Estelle over Sally shoulder as he ate the last fruit snack. Paul remained nursing his coffee at the table but not disturbing him. 

In the kitchen Percy felt at home, before Paul (and then Estelle) came around, Percy used to assist Sally in the kitchen, even when cooking for Smelly Gabe, it was one of his favorite activities for just him and his Mom. This time Percy wanted to try to cook the meal all alone. Starting with dessert he pulled down Sally’s trusty cookbook, the one with the best blue cookie recipe and the treasured seven layer dip. But he didn’t want to copy his Mom, he wanted to try something new and thus kept flipping until inspiration hit.

The mixing bowls were stored in the cabinets above the refrigerator and Percy bumped into Paul while retrieving them, “I can leave if I’m in your way,” Paul said happily, he was grading essays and the unread pile was still pretty big. “No, no, it’s fine.” Percy responded, a little relieved that he was there. In the past when he had cooked, it wasn’t the cooking part that went wrong but reading the ingredients list, it turns out reading tablespoon and teaspoon wrong could mess up everything. Especially when it came to baking soda. It was nice to have someone to double check that he hadn’t flipped a few letters around in the recipe and it wouldn’t ruin the surprise for Sally.

Percy spent all morning stirring and measuring before turning on the oven to get the crust ready. He had never changed from his pajamas and they had flour dusted across the front and back. For lunch Percy insisted that Sally, Estelle and Paul eat out, not letting anyone enter the kitchen. He snacked as he cooked and didn’t stop for lunch. 

Placing the pie in the oven Percy heard the first clap of thunder and lightning. Yesterday it had looked stormy and it seems that the storm had finally arrived. The thunder rattled his nerves, reminding him of all the times he had been forced to fly and all the times Zeus had threatened to obliterate him. He tried to think of it as Jason saying a friendly hello, but it didn’t calm his nerves. While the filling chilled, he decided to take a shower, hoping it might help his nerves. 

Emerging feeling fresh and slightly, the apartment smelled wonderful. It smelled like the pie was almost done. With that thought Percy bolted to the kitchen in just his towel panicking and realizing he never set a timer and had no idea how long it had been. Holding the towel up with one hand and using the other to check the oven he saw that the pie was perfectly crispy. He scrambled around looking for an oven mitt to take it out. Luckily it had not burned. It was while scrambling for the oven mitt that Sally walked in. They had returned from their lunch and trip to the park and were soaking wet from the storm that had started. “No don’t come in! It’s supposed to be a surprise!” Percy called out still holding his towel up and searching for the oven mitt. It was not where he remembered they used to be stored. “Seeing this is the most surprised I ever want to be,” Sally laughed. 

“Go get dressed, I’m sufficiently surprised and will get it out of the oven.” 

Percy turned to go embarrassed more by not being able to find the oven mitt than being caught in nothing but a towel. She was his Mom after all, she already knew about most of his embarrassing moments. Sally sighed, so happy to have her son home, and cooking for her! She never would have imagined who he would grow up to be, but she was so proud. But seeing the faint scars all over his back and arms also made her sad. He has gone through so much to get to this point. He was always surprising her in the best ways possible and she hoped he never stopped. 

The oven was off and the pie was cooling when Percy returned to the kitchen in a fresh pair of pajamas. He had decided pajamas were the best for cooking in, not really sure why though, but he liked it. Desert was finished but the day was passing quickly and he had to make the actual meal. Shooing Sally away from the dishes she had started cleaning Percy got to work on the next part. By now the thunder and lightning had lightened up but the rain was still going strong lashing against the windows. 

Sally conceded from the kitchen and returned to the living room where Paul was entertaining Estelle with made up songs about grammar. Percy rolled his eyes, Paul couldn’t help himself from being a teacher. It was annoying sometimes but it was also one of his favorite things about him. Grabbing a pot from the stove Percy filled it up with water and set it to start boiling water, he selected the pasta from the pantry and got to work on the cheese. This wasn't just regular mac and cheese. It was gourmet mac and cheese and had been a favorite among Smelly Gabe and his friends. Sally had stopped making it after he disappeared and Percy wanted to make it his own, to reclaim the recipe. To do this he was adding a little something special. 

From the living room it sounded like Percy was just loudly banging pots and pans together, and for all Sally knew he could well have been doing that but the apartment began to fill with the rich warm smell of Mac and cheese, so he must have been cooking too. As it got closer to dinner, she went to the table to find it already set with the candles placed in their menorahs. Percy emerged from the kitchen with some melted cheese in his hair but looking happy. “Bonjuer my guests, the meal is almost ready please take your seats!” He said in a horrible French accent. Estelle erupted into giggles and soon caught Sally in her giggle fit. Paul shook his head, his regular doses of dad humor making him immune to this particularly bad accent. Percy smiled, as if saying mission accomplished before heading back into the kitchen to get complete the finishing touches.

Sally could hear him rummaging around and water running and he emerged a second and final time with a box of matches. “Shall we?” Paul stood up and they all lit the candles for the final night together, Estelle still randomly bursting into a lone giggle here and there. As Paul said the last line of the blessing, there was a bright flash of lightening and a loud clap of thunder and the lights went out. All that lit the room was the warm flames from the menorah, lighting the table and their faces. It shadowed Percy’s face making him look scary and far away. As the lights flickered Sally saw his face shift and realized he looked more scared than scary. After coming back from New Rome, he had not been the same, she knew he didn’t tell her everything about what had happened but there was a look in his eyes that was different. But tonight in the darkness of the room through the glow of the candles she saw the scared 12 year old again.

At first Percy was frightened, logically he knew it was just a power outage, it wasn’t something that unusual for New York, yet he couldn’t shake the feeling that something was going to go wrong. For him, everything always went wrong, so after a day of cooking and family, of course it could not end in a happy evening. He reached into his pocket to check for Riptide and felt assured at its presence. His pulse quickened and he started to check the exits making sure his family could get away, but everything stayed still and silent. Estelle was still merrily watching the candles and both Paul and Sally were watching him. Waiting for what he would do next. His hand went into his pocket again, but he gave one more glance around the room before pulling it out.

The candles burned bright and warm and Percy saw the shadows flickering over his family’s faces as he took in the room, they looked fine. Everyone was fine and sometimes a storm could just be a storm. Percy tried to think of a reason that Zeus would be mad at him. With Zeus though, sometimes he didn’t need a reason to be mad. Resolving that there was nothing he could do until something actually went wrong, he sat down and they began to eat. 

The candles were bright enough to eat by and after a while Percy didn’t mind it that much. He kept checking the exits with quick glances around the room, but he stopped patting Riptide as frequently and began to enjoy the meal. The storm continued outside but the glow of the candles felt warm and safe. While they flickered and melted their presence was reassuring.

Paul put the last serving of Mac and cheese on his plate as Percy finished off his third serving. Sally loved it, “I can’t figure out what you did that makes it so good. What is it?” Percy smiled, scrapping his plate loudly with the fork, getting the cheesy remains to stick, “It’s a secret.” This was the type of secret he liked. “I based it off your recipe though,” Percy continued. Sally gave a tight smile, “We should replace it with this one, its much better.” Sally responded. Sally and Percy were staring at each other now, Paul felt like he was intruding in a private moment and continued to silently eat. He knew that her previous husband had been abusive and she had mentioned things from time to time but he knew that what they went through together, her and Percy, he would never be able to understand. “I guess I could write it down.” Sally’s smile loosened looking forward to seeing his handwriting and misspelled words in her cookbook. A reminder of everything they went through and the future that they had together. “It would be a wonderful Hanukkah gift.” 

“Oh that’s not my gift, give me a minute!” Percy shot up from his chair almost tipping it over and ran back to his room. Percy returned with his gift to find Paul clearing the dishes and Sally entered the room with two gift bags of her own. The power was still out but the candles were still burning strong as Percy handed Sally her gift. It was wrapped in newspapers and rectangular. She unwrapped it carefully as Percy watched to see her reaction. 

Sally started crying and Percy wasn’t sure if that meant he did something wrong or right, but when Sally got up to pull him into a hug, he knew he had done something right. After releasing Percy from her hug, she held up the collage for Paul and Estelle to see. It was a blue ocean scene with pictures of Estelle and Percy together artfully placed into the waves looking as if they were in every current and floating blissfully around underwater. It was as time was passing all at once with the memories overlapped and moving around. “I just thought you could update some of your pictures laying around, and I know I’m not around as much anymore so I...” Percy didn’t get to finish as Sally interrupted, “Oh honey, its perfect. And also no, I won’t take down your first grade picture but I will put this up right beside it.” Percy blushed, seeing his mom happy always made him happy. 

“Now its our turn,” Paul said first handing Estelle her gift before handing Percy his. Estelle’s was wrapped in blue Hanukkah wrapping paper and she tore it open with the glee of a toddler and started squealing. It was a stuffed animal of a starfish, but this one was larger than life, larger than her head even and she immediately loved it. In the following days before Percy went back to school, he did not see it leave her side, even during bath time, where he had to devote some concentration to keeping it dry in the bathtub. 

Percy’s gift was smaller, it was wrapped in the same Hanukkah wrapping paper as Estelle. The box was small, slim but heavy. Tearing off the wrapping paper he found a leather case, opening it up, there was a beautiful blue fountain pen. It was a deep blue, shining. “I know you already have a special pen, but I just want you to have a regular pen. I want you to know your whole life isn’t going to just be fighting, its going to be creating things too. You don’t have to use it I know kids these days just type everything anyway, but I want you to have it as a reminder of the many options you have.” Percy didn’t know what to say. It meant so much, just a regular pen. Just a regular life, what he had wanted all along, Paul understood. “It’s-It’s beautiful, thank you.” 

“That’s not all,” Sally added, handing him another box, this one slightly larger but with no wrapping. Percy opened it quickly and found a celestial bronze necklace, it was a similar length to his leather one and it already had a couple of beads on it. One was etched with names and the other an address. “You are graduating soon and now you can never forget where home is again.” Now it was Percy’s turn to get up to give Sally a hug. It was a long hug. 

Since the war with Gaea, he had come home, finished high school and started college, but the fear had remained, it could all start again. Another prophecy could be given and his memory could be wiped. The gods did whatever they wanted. Since then, he had tried to move forward, and he did for the most part, but there were always moments where the fear came back, a niggling in the back of his mind. He had voiced his fears to only a few people, but somehow Sally knew exactly what he needed. Percy gripped her tightly never wanting to let go. The candles had grown dim and as he released Sally from his hug, the first one went out with a puff of smoke. Percy didn’t know what it meant, but for once he didn’t care. He let it go out without worrying about the meaning. He had his family, a future and a home to return to. He didn’t care about anything else.


End file.
